March sure was a busy month for me, so that explains why instead of the usual amount this time I could only watch half of dozen of movies (and a few short films). So let's start with the most recent ones: Underworld: Awakening (2012), I've enjoyed a lot the original Underworld trilogy, and this is actually the beginning of a new trilogy. The writer J. Michael Straczynski has come up with a great premise: humans start chasing vampires and even Kate Beckinsale, the protagonist, gets captured. When she wakes up, 12 years have passed. Vampires and Lycans are supposed to be extinct. It's a strange new world, even for an immortal creature like her. If you saw the Underworld saga then you must see this one too.Andrew Stanton's John Carter (2012) is based on the novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Taylor Kitsch is John Carter, an American soldier from the 19th century who is transported to Mars, a planet at war where different species struggle to obtain absolute control. I had zero expectations about this but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, and it certainly is faithful to the first novel. David Michôd writes and directs Animal Kingdom (2010), an Australian production about an underage boy who moves in with his delinquent relatives after his mother dies of an overdose. James Frecheville, a young actor, portrays a captivating and brooding teen, who seems to be slightly detached from the world, while Guy Pearce is the detective who investigates the crimes of the protagonist's family.Explicit penetration, masturbation, underage prostitution and drugs seem to be a constant in the filmography of Bernard Shumanski & Richard Shumanski; Blackmail Boys (2010) is no exception: an underage boy has sex with older men for money, until his boyfriend suggests him to blackmail one of his clients: a prominent religious figure. The script and the execution are both really good, and so is the acting.Scenes from the Suburbs (2011) is a short film by the talented Spike Jonze: we witness the lives of a group of teenagers, how they have fun together, how they fool around after class, all the interactions between them; the burgeoning sexuality that barely knows how to speak in a proper language is made evident in one way or another, and it’s not just the gay slur or the intimate friendship between Sam Dillon and Paul Pluymen, because there’s another thing that has no language and that’s violence and repression, which are made tangible here: these teens, after all, live in an alternate reality in which the US is a country at war, each state fights against the neighbor state and everyone lives like refugees or like the people in the Middle East during wartime. Jonze creates images of absolute beauty and sequences that are both disturbing and thought provoking. If I had to choose the best of the month I harbor no doubts: Scenes from the Suburbs wins all the way.

I’ve also seen a few of European productions: Das Jahr der ersten Küsse (2002), directed by Kai Wessel and starred by Max Mauff, is a bittersweet story about the pains of growing up. “The Year of the First Kiss” chronicles the lives of a group of 15-year-olds, their sexual awakening, their first masturbatory experiences and their clumsy attempts at dating. Wessel manages to distill real emotion out of these characters, and as a consequence you feel deeply touched. I felt connected to the protagonists in ways that I couldn’t have anticipated. I highly recommend Das Jahr der ersten Küsse. From Argentina comes Porno de Autor (2010), by filmmaker Marcelo Mónaco, an expert in creating sexual tension. This time, the story revolves around of group of young men and women that are getting drunk before a party, during this get-together, one of them shows them the short film he has been working on… which revolves around two high school boys that masturbate together until the brother of one of them enters the game… with the intention of satisfying his sexual urges. Overall I think this was pretty well handled, although the main story –the one about the group of friends– is a bit slow sometimes.I also watched several European short films: Imágenes reales del juego is an example of imagination and creativity, it’s a sci-fi tale set in modern times that takes advantage of every cinematic resource. No soy como tú is an interesting story about commitment between two men who spend the night together. Un peu de soleil dans les yeux (2009), written and directed by Stephane Botti shows the tribulations of a teenager, Louis Gensollen, who is in love with his best friend. But fear not, this is not the typical boy on boy romance, it is a mesmerizing philosophical journey that deals with idealization and frustration. Really great stuff. And that’s it, see you all next month.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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About the Author - Arion

Arion, who is either from Chile or New York (it’s not really clear) writes a blog that the Outhouse steals on a regular basis. Arion is by far the nicest of all the staff writers and the most well behaved only having been banned from one country. One thing we really appreciate about Aroin is that he writes his reviews in English and Spanish and we hope someday he’ll translate this blurb for us. We’re not so good at languages, just look at how well we write in English if you need proof. You should bookmark Arion’s blog - http://artbyarion.blogspot.com – and actually look at it. There will be a quiz at the end of every month.